RUGS 101: Pet Stains On Your Rug

Does this sound familiar? You had a long, stressful day at work putting out fires, only to hit brutal traffic during the commute home. Sitting on the freeway, you begin to recount stressful elements of your day. Maybe it was dealing with that annoying coworker who bombards you with questions 24/7, or a deadline that got pushed up leaving you to scramble to do the impossible. Regardless, your 9-5 has left you exhausted, stressed, and in dire need of some R&R.

But when you do finally make it home, much of the day’s frustrations melt away when you’re greeted enthusiastically by a loyal pet at the front door. You kick off your shoes and make a bee-line for the living room to wind down, and that’s when it happens—you hit the fresh wet spot. You lift your gaze to see Fido now sitting across the room, with a very apparent “whoops” on his guilty face. It looks like your furry friend had a little accident on your brand new, beautiful oriental rug.

Whether you’re potty training the newest addition to your family or you have an old dog that refuses to learn new tricks, your oriental rug is at risk! Urine can permanently stain a rug, and the smell can come back months later to haunt you. Check out these tips on how to remove pet urine stains. With some quick action you’ll prevent pet stains from setting and odors from recurring before they ruin your favorite rug (or your day).

WARM WATER

When your four-legged friend picks your oriental rug as the spot to, well, make a spot, the safest method you can employ is to soak the area with a towel and warm water. Blot the area with a warm, wet towel. Ideally, you’ll want to do this immediately after it happens, as the longer that you wait to give attention to the urinated rug, the more likely the ammonia in the urine will damage your oriental rug’s fibers and dyes. For more information about that, check out our June Gloom post.

VINEGAR

If you got to the stain a bit too late and water alone doesn’t resolve the issue, try adding a small amount of white vinegar to warm water and blot the stain. The diluted acidic nature acts like a chemical bonding agent that will help extract the urine. It should be noted that it’s never a good idea to add chemical-based cleaners to clean your oriental rug, as they could make the stain worse or permanently discolor your rug.

PROFESSIONAL CLEANING

BEFOREAFTER

The most trusted method to remove pet stains and urine from your oriental rug is to have it professionally cleaned. Steaming, dry cleaning, and other industrial cleaning methods will only clean the surface of the rug and will do so in a way that the natural dyes can bleed or fade. To get out stains as well as years of dander, dirt, etc. from your rug, call us at Khazai Oriental Rug Cleaning. We have been hand-washing rugs at our cleaning facilities for over 30 years, ensuring we provide expert service for every rug that we pamper.

We use special cleaning agents with water saturation that are guaranteed to remove 100% of the pet urine odors from your rug. If you act immediately and contact us right after your pet stains the rug and before it dries, it will be much easier to remedy the damage. However, we also have years of successful experience in removing even old and dry urine stains from rugs. Once you bring your rug in for inspection, our experts will diagnose the best next steps.